Low power wireless networks may be employed as a cable replacement in various applications. Cellular telephones and computers may often make use of wireless networks where cables may be undesired or unavailable. Because of their low power the networks may be replicated, typically without interfering with each other.
In an effort to aid interoperability, manufacturers may produce devices that operate or conform to one or more standards that may or may not be backwards compatible. Standards can be proposed by individual companies, or by groups of companies typically seeking to advance items of common interest such as the replacement of cables with a wireless link. Bluetooth is one such standard.
The Bluetooth standard describes a wireless cable replacement system that may be used with many types of devices that transmit data ranging from digital data to audio. However, in implementing a standard that is wide ranging, tradeoffs may be made so that the best performance may not necessarily be obtained for any one situation. If the standard were to give the best performance for one application, performance in another may not be acceptable.
A device may be built to conform completely to a standard, or it may partially conform. Also, even though a standard may serve as a basis to provide interoperability the device may have its own unique design and features that work with and according to the standard, as the standard may often be thought of more of as an outline of operation, with details being left to the designer.